Album Review: Alvvays Send Love To All The “Antisocialites” Suffering From A Breakup
I love 500 Days of Summer. Yes, I know this is an album review for Alvvays highly-anticipated new album, Antisocialites, but I mention this film because it has a lot relevance to the record in cause and effect. At times, “the one” turns to become “another one”. To see someone, whom knew you more deeply and intimately than you knew yourself, fade into another stranger passing you on the street is like a spiritual, Shakespearean tragedy. Acts, verses, characters, and emotional arcs all come into play to turn Alvvays’ Antisocialites into a musicalized film on heartbreak.
Antisocialites shimmers in sound like light glares bouncing off glitter, which only makes its subject matter more tragically dreamy. I should remark that I am a HUGE romantic, and view breakups with the avid attention and investment of an SVU unit. I NEED to know or, at least, investigate how love can feel so potent, on one end, and then become non-existent within another. Hence, Antisocialites feels like a highly finessed melodrama; avoiding the sappiness of breakups’ drama and replacing it with lyrical irony. From “Plimsoil Punls” to “Saved By A Waif”, you cannot avoid peering into Molly Rankin’s sombre voice as she climbs down into her heart like a woman doing a solo-rescue mission. With every step downward, she ponders whether she really needs such emotional closure, if being “vulnerable” is necessary, and going deep into a relationship that has become shallow is truly a path to self-enlightenment. All these feelings make me want to Bridget Jones and grab a Ben & Jerry’s. If there is one thing that EVERYBODY has felt after a break-up is the need to obsessively understand every motivation and move that led to the relationship’s end. Fuzzy guitar chords sprinkle like bees pollenating flowered synth-waves, while Molly’s voice feels like a gentle hand trudging through emotional dirt. She matches delicacy with fervor in tracks like ,”In The Undertow”, “Not My Baby”, and “Forget About Life”. With how weaved and patterned instrumentals are made to feel like they are cascading through songs, “Your Type” and “Already Gone”, you truly immerse yourself in Rankin’s analysis of love, from beginning to end.
Anitsocialites is, definitely, worth a listen, and even a buy, on September 8., particularly, for those intrigued by fantastically moody, indie rock that speaks to the greatest human tragedy: love lost. When a love ends it can feel like a life has ended, and with choral harmonies that give you wings, satirical, yet serious lyrics that give you bite, and an overall sound/ voice that give you reflection, Antisocialites is Alvvays own love letter to those that feel love has gone. For More Information Click Here.
